However, the reading public truly seems to enjoy the novel that sold over one hundred thousand copies in the first three months after its publication. It is precisely this "bad" science and overt racism that has prompted many anthropologists to denounce the novel. In fact, Auel seems to be basing her view of the Neanderthal on the racially motivated "bad" science of late nineteenth-century French anthropology. Historians and anthropologists immediately reacted to Auel's book, maintaining that her assumptions about Neanderthal life were not realistic. Ayla is very different from the Clan: physically, she is blond and blue-eyed and the people in the Clan are stocky and dark she is expressive, sensitive, and smart and they are dour, plodding, and cold. The story concerns a young girl named Ayla who is orphaned by a natural disaster and then adopted by a group known as the Clan.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |